In the December issue of the Far East magazine, Fr Barry Cairns recalls one of the most delightful Christmas presents he ever received. In the mission parish of Katase in Yokohama diocese where I was stationed, we had a special catechumenate class for couples where...
Columban lay missionary, Nathalie Marytsch reflects on Advent and suggests that the constant waiting in hope which the asylum seekers at Fatima House in Birmingham go through means every day is Advent for them. When we Christians think of Advent we immediately...
Fr Shay Cullen argues that the greatest violation of human rights in the world today is violence against women and girls. She was only 7 years old. Call her Angelica. She never knew or imagined the sexual violence that was to be done to her by her stepfather...
Fr Mike O’Loughlin pays a personal tribute to the late Fr PJ McGlinchey who died earlier this year. The recent death of PJ McGlinchey brought back a memory of a chance meeting I had with him late one night in the Columban house in Seoul, Korea. I spied him sitting...
On Friday 6 July, we went were among the urban poor in Seoul. We visited both a soup kitchen and St Joseph’s clinic to serve those who are marginalised by society. Throughout the day I could feel God’s presence. He was everywhere. He was in the people we served...
On the morning Tuesday 3 July the Columban Centennial Youth Mission Exposure was declared open in Seoul, South Korea by Fr Joseph Kang. This was soon followed by our first Mass in Spanish, with English readings and intercessory prayers in Chinese! This has soon...
Like many other people I like chocolate, writes Fr Sean McDonagh SSC. I find it sweet, and the aroma lingers on after you have eaten the them. Something so delightful as chocolate must surely have a respectable and positive history. Unfortunately, it has not. As we...
‘The Turning Wheel’ by Frank Hoare narrates the work of the Columban missionaries in Fiji over 65 years. It also traces in summary form the changes that have happened in Fiji and in the Catholic Church there during that time. It traces the maturing of a Church that...
As the oceans teem with plastic, Fr Séan McDonagh calls for a ban on single use plastic and for a change in the way plastics are produced and used. We need to recognise the extraordinary damage plastic poses to our oceans. Dame Ellen MacArthur is a record-breaking...
Jessica was a lost child wandering the streets of a Philippine city, picked up by a human trafficker and brought to different places where she was sold as a commodity to foreign sex tourists to be abused. She didn’t know what was happening to her at 14-years of...